Does OKC have anyone that can guard Dirk?

[EvanW]

Dirk has personally caused like 12 fouls

[kaiiu]

does anybody in the NBA?

[Scoooter]

Does any team have anyone that can guard Dirk? A certain tier of player is just impossible to really stop. Bother, maybe, but they're superstars for a reason.

[asdf1990]

Does kg do a good job on dirk?

[JMT]

No. Nobody does.

You do your best against great scorers. They're going to get theirs eventually.

You stop everyone else, and make sure that your worst defenders get matchups that allow them to stay on the floor.

[97 bulls]

Its cuz okc is doing a bad job as a team defensively. Why reach? Why give him any airspace? And then, when his man does get in his chest, and he drives, the thunder don't rotate.

[Cangri]

No body can guard Dirk when he's on fire, teams can just hope that he has an off game nothing more they can do.

[97 bulls]

People just don't understand the importance of playing great defense.. they're not gonna outscore the mavs. Another thing, who is dirk guarding? He's having an easy time on both ends of the court.

[PoppaHops]

Put Serge on him. Athletic with good length. Hes OKC's best bet.

[imdaman99]

Refs calling ticky tacky, the Thunder stand little chance

[Christofire]

not if the refs dont allow you to play defense

[JMT]

Originally Posted by 97 bulls

People just don't understand the importance of playing great defense.. they're not gonna outscore the mavs. Another thing, who is dirk guarding? He's having an easy time on both ends of the court.

Amen.

People would have a shot at figuring out the game if they stopped asking all the wrong questions.

Who can stop (fill in the name of the great scorer) isn't what you need to know.

The question is, where do you find the matchups that allow you to keep your worst defenders on the floor, and how do you keep key offensive personnel out of foul trouble.

Dallas is simply doing what they did to LA. Limit FT line penetration, make the most athletic big (Ibaka) spend all night chasing Dirk, negating his size.

Even better for Mavs, with Perkins on the floor, Dirk literally doesn't have to guard anyone.

Unless Durant can play extended minutes on Dirk, OKC is going to have big troubles. And the Thunder have limited scoring options, so I don't think they'll even consider an option that makes Durant work so hard on defense.

[creepingdeath]

Originally Posted by asdf1990

Does kg do a good job on dirk?

Na, peak KG got lit up by Dirk back in the Minny days.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by PoppaHops

Put Serge on him. Athletic with good length. Hes OKC's best bet.

Picked up fouls by the basketful when he tried. He can't guard Dirk out on the floor. His nature is to body up and try to block. You can't body Dirk and stop his first step, not without great help defense.

[Patrick Chewing]